I tried GIMP and couldn't figure it out no matter what I did or read about; it's like nothing I've ever seen, couldn't do a darn thing with it. Grrrr. I've been on computers for many many years; that program is one of the worst I've ever seen as far as being so VERY UN user friendly. For those who figured it out, please don't say how easy it is, it may be for you, which it fine. I had to try it anyway despite reading how difficult it is, just to see for myself. Those who said it's hard are right. I'm not blaming anyone, it's just how things go. Oh well, still saving for Photoshop while I use the other programs I have.

Well the problem is that GIMP is not a native OSX program. The GIMP is Photoshop for Linux, and if you use it under an environment like Gnome it would make perfect sense. Kind of like how Mac is different from PCs and so on. But of course, Linux is not known to be user friendly. Then again, last I checked Photoshop was truly expensive while Gimp is free as in beer and as in freedom. Pixelmator is the only true alternative to Photoshop in OSX.

Inkscape is a software for creating "images" from scratch, by using what they call vector graphics. It is the same way Illustrator is used to create images (meaning drawing something on the computer) and has a lot of tools to help you, like aligning stuff with each other, moving objects and text around, layers, etc. Give it a try, a lot of people that come from using Paint for their basic graphic needs really have a lot to gain by investing some time in a vector graphics software.

There is another alternative which might be the easiest of all for you and free as well, which is NeoOffice or LibreOffice. Both are based on the same source code but NeoOffice is better adapted to OSX look and feel. Then you can use the word processor or the Draw application (not sure if it still included nowadays) to create your graphics in the same way you would use Microsoft Office for such things.

Keep in mind that all of the free software I mentioned come from the Linux camp, so don't expect picture perfect features.